Schools celebrate £10,000 grant for new reading programme

THREE Weymouth schools are celebrating after being given grants totalling £10,000 for an accelerated reading programme.

Wey Valley, Wyvern Academy and St Nicholas and St Laurence schools all use the learning resource centre at their shared campus in Broadwey, which will receive new materials as a result of the grant from the Foyle Foundation and the Aspect Trust.

The Foyle Foundation provided £7,000 and the Aspect Trust gave a £3,000 grant.

Learning resource centre manager at Wey Valley, Eileen Glynn spearheaded the bid for the grant on behalf of the three schools. It focused on the needs of pupils as they moved from primary school into secondary school.

The grant will be spent on conventional books and new Kindle e-reading devices.

Rob Cole, Wey Valley's finance and business manager, said: “Competition for funding from The Foyle Foundation, which provided £7,000 of the total, is very strong, and only a minority of the applications submitted are approved.

“Eileen Glynn put together a really well-argued case to show what an important difference the money could make to developing reading skills and we are indebted to her.”

Mr Cole added: “In the early years of primary school, reading is at the top of the agenda and we all want to sustain this focus.

“Literacy skills have an impact on all aspects of education. It's not just about English lessons, they are crucial throughout life, and this grant will help us give a real boost to our students' literacy skills.”

Headteacher of St Nicholas and St Laurence, Helen Williams, said the grant would make a 'real difference' to all the children at the school.

Headteacher of Wyvern Academy, a specialist school for children with disabilities, Sue Hoxey said: “The money will allow us to give them access to a wider range of reading material, as well as computer-based quizzes so that we can check their understanding of what they've read.”

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She added that what had been created with the three schools was an inclusive community campus.

Mrs Hoxey said: “The success of our bid is a very welcome reflection on what's been achieved to date, and our plans for the future.”

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